this is the first play where madea showed up.of it. >> jimmy: but it's so good. it's so funny. [ cheers ] i loved it. so good. but i mean, you were doing this play and -- i mean, now, you have tyler perry studios. 500 employees. 200,000 square feet. >> yeah. >> jimmy: and when you were just doing this play, you actually -- >> -- was broke, living and in my car. yeah. a geo metro, at this height. can you imagine? >> jimmy: is that right? >> yes, i had a geo metro. some of you don't even know what a geo metro is. [ laughter ] i had the convertible, too. i couldn't wait until summer so i could let the top down so i could sit up straight. [ laughter ] i kid you not, man. i kid you not. >> jimmy: i mean, your knees must have been by your head. >> yeah. >> jimmy: kind of like a go kart. >> the repo man couldn't find it, though, i was okay. i was okay. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: i mean, that's wild. that's great. and now, how is the new series? you love doing it there? >> oh, i've been working in atlanta and having -- you know, there's such

he not only wrote and directed but stars as his nasty cross-dressing al ter ego, madea. the horror flick sore report row sixth with a disappointing $5.3 million. kate beckinsale whiteout just washed out in seventh place with just over $5 million. well, finally kanye west has taken his notorious bad sportsmanship to a new low essentially. at last night's mtv music awards when taylor swift won and was mid speech, he jumps up and protests in favor of bope yann say's video. he was booed by the crowd. she called up swift to finish that speech that west had interrupted. justice served. >>> this from knsd in san diego, where in nearby del mar doingy dudes took to their boards to hang 20 for a pretty good cause. thousands of spectators lined the speech for the fourth annual surf dog surf a thon. the length of the ride, size of the wave. even the costume-clad canines raised $47,000 last year. not bad. i'm dan kloeffler, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. [captioning made possible by constellation energy] >> a very good monday mor

>> madea, what are you-- >> hello. >> am i in hawaii? you ain't in hawaii, although i could put a apple in your mouth and put you on one of them rotisseries and turn you like one of them fat, little pigs. ha ha ha! >> what do you want? >> hell, i want some gin and juice and some cigarettes. [thunder] i'm just kidding. ooh, the angels is testy today. you like my christmas purse? this is my christmas purse. let's see what i got. they told me to come down here and say something. ok. ahem. "aloha. i am one of your angels, and i have come to help you through a mission." >> who wrote that? >> the angels in heaven. i'm one of them. >> you? an angel. yeah, right. >> yeah. that's the same thing i said. i said, "y'all want me to be a angel? hell, do you know what kind of weapons i got in this purse?" ha ha ha! >> what do you want with me? >> you must come with me and look at your past, present, and future. >> i'm not going anywhere with you. >> i am from the south side of heaven, ok? i will take this halo and these earrings off and beat the hell o

the first was "madea goes to jail" in february. "9" debuted in second and "inglourious basterds" slipped to third. >>> senator ten kennedy's memoir goes on sale. "true compassion" discusses his entire life from his boyhood to his battle with brain cancer and describes his relationships with various presidents and his remorse over the car against that killed mary jo kopechne. its publisher expects it to be a best-seller. >>> you can read more about these stories online at a abcnews.com. >>> an aide close to blagojevich was found dead. did he kill himself days before beginning a prison sentence. >>> chaos onth court of the u.s. open. now serena williams is slapped with a hefty fine. feed the senses. >>> welcome back. these are the latest headlines from abc news. police in new haven believe they have found the body of annie le found in the building where she worked and was last seen. >>> president obama is on wall street to make a major speech on the economy and will look back at the lehman brothers' collapse one year ago. >>> just days after the 9/11 anniversary osama bin laden has issued

. >>> on friday, tyler perry's "madea" returns to the big screen in his new film. >> seven-time grammyy time. >> save all that testimony stuff for the church, all right. right now we just want you to sing a little song, make the people feel good. >> hold this. h@t stn'ohl thing. >> let's do it. >> i'd like to dedicate this to all of your beautiful faces, but especially to april. ♪ to fulfill the need to be ♪ who i am in this world >> and gladys knight joins us this morning. good morning. >> good morning! how are you both? >> did you have a great time making a film with -- >> tyler? awesome. it was the most amazing event, journey, it really was. because i always wanted to grow in that arena. but when he called me i was a little bit nervous. you know, because i didn't want to disappoint. i don't know if i'm ready. and i said plus i want to be thin when i go. he said, girl, get on down here you right for the part. >> how did you get over the nerves? >> well, he helped me with that. he's an amazing director. you know, he knows how to get you from who you are, usually when people ask you to

"he was swift voted," according to madea at code pink. and a san francisco citizen spoke to him recently and said he was conflicted about whether to resign his resignation was announced late on saturday night, early sunday morning. from new york, next up, this is ben on the independence line. >> caller: i just want to say look out for yourself. hello. >> host: we are here, hello. in it terms of your work situation, give us more information. >> caller: i retired eight years ago when i was 58 years old. i down sized my home to where i knew i could afford the taxes and i've paid for it. i live modestly and you've got to prepare yourself for times like this. the other thing i want to say real quick. i'm old enough to remember when my father came home from work one day and they were just starting the sales tax in new york state and the politicians all promised us there would be no more school taxes in a few years, that it would pay for everything. the schools would be wonderful. and nothing is for free. the money has to come from some place. i